Our drinking club has a reading problem

DRUNK REVIEW: Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence

**We received an early copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. We’d like to thank Mark and Harper Voyager for the opportunity. This book comes out today and you can get it here.**

What I drank prior: so much wine… the big bubba bottles. Between three of us we finished two of them plus I had a shit to “catch up” which was dumb. (Editor’s Note: a shot… definitely not a shit… lol)

Spoiler-free Overview: ok so at this point if you haven’t read Red and/or Grey Sister then please just skip this one. I don’t want to fuck it up. Review for Grey Sister is here.

Anyway, Nona has to deal with the Noi Guin shipheart after her badass battle with Emperor’s sister. Glass sends her and Zole out to lead the bad guys away from the rest of the squad = timeline 1. Three years later aka present day, shit happens = timeline 2. Glass has put Nona on a quest to steal a book that’s the “key” to everything. But yeah, that’s the whole butt of this book. The two timelines tryna converge.

Spoiler-free Thoughts: thiswas my fave of all the books to be 100% honest. I felt like I knew the characters and the stakes enough to be fearful for the,, which is tough for me. To have both. There were points in this where I had to set it down cause like… it was way too much. I cried no less than twice on public transportation. Mark had me hooked at 17% with two words. This whole thing is brilliant and brutal. so fucking brutal and violent. I expected no less from my assassins-in-training.

Characters: for those of you who are pro Nona at this point maybe sadly disappointed but damn did I love her in this. PLUS the way Lawrence worked his writing style, what kept you moving forward was your fear for other characters. I want to say who but the book isn’t out yet so comment if you wanna talk about it. The characters finished their arcs well here. We also get some angsty romance. Hold up, lemmie just go through my children real quick: Nona, Ara, Zole, Kettle, Jula, Ruli are just so great together. At this point in the book they’ve all known eachother for a decade and it shows. Apple, Glass, and Pan are my literal faves. All of them are so fucking cool and boy do we get to see them In Action. The Bad Guys are still Bad, but there are so many of them it’s hard to think of their names /shrug emoji/

Plot: is it bad that what kept me going were the bits of info were clearly deliberately fed over the course of the story? (Editor’s Note: no… that’s the mark of a good writer Drunk Sam – love, Sober Sam) I would have guessed immediately had I had all the info but I didn’t. And I was given that info slowly, which made it more compelling. I fucking loved the plot.

Writing Style: it’s the final book if you didn’t love the writing style that’s a you problem not a me problem.

World Building: is it possible to get more without overwhelming because that’s what I felt like I got. This book is so fab.

What to pair it with: drown your sorrows with every bottle of tequila you have. you’re gonna need it.